(509:480;
Fall, 2009)
Dr. A.
Lees (353 Armitage; 856-225-6080; alees@camden.rutgers.edu;
http//:alees.rutgers.edu)
Perspectives and
Procedures
Themes: Between the
early part of the nineteenth century and the early part of the
twentieth,
Requirements: reading of
all assigned materials before the classes for which they are assigned,
regular
attendance at our weekly meetings, a brief paper, an in-class writing
exercise,
a medium-length paper, and a longer paper, and three oral reports.
Most of the assigned reading appears in Walter Arnstein, Britain Yesterday and Today, 1830 to the
Present and Walter Arnstein, ed., The
Past Speaks: Sources and Problems in British History, Volume 2. These volumes will be available for purchase
at the local bookstore. Naturally,
students are free to buy them elsewhere if they choose to.
Whether they purchase the latest editions of
these books immaterial. All other assigned readings are available via
electronic reserve at the Robeson Library.
The first paper should be a two- to three-page summary
and analysis of the information presented and the views expressed in
the
readings that are assigned for Sept. 3, 10, 15, or 17.
These papers are due at the start of class on
the days for which the readings are assigned.
On September 22, students will be asked to write for up
to eighty minutes on assigned reading.
This will be an open-book examination.
The second and third papers, due on October 5 and
November 24, should focus on books by historians. At
least one of them should deal with a
subject that a student thinks she or he would like to investigate in
greater
depth in her or his final paper. Each of these papers should be three
to four
pages in length. Each should begin with a brief discussion (no more
than half a
page) of what is said about the topic at hand by Walter Arnstein. Against this backdrop, the rest of the paper
should demonstrate how the author has gone beyond the relative brevity
that is
inevitable in a textbook. (If an author
not only supplements Arnstein but also diverges from or contradicts
him, the
fact of this difference needs to be made clear too.)
Each paper should include a
bibliography of three items: one of them
being the book that is being
analyzed, two others being additional items that could have been
discussed in
an essay on three books dealing with a common theme. The
bibliographical listings of books that
have not been discussed in the main body of the paper should indicate
in two or
three sentences what the books are about and how they relate to the
ones that
have been discussed at greater length. Books
discussed in these essays should show signs of serious scholarship. Books written for highschool students, textbooks, and books written for history
“buffs” are not suitable works for this assignment. If there is any
doubt in
your mind whether a particular book meets my standards, please show it
to me so
that I can point you in the right direction.
The final paper should continue the investigation of a
theme dealt with in either the second or the third paper (or, I hope, a
theme
dealt with in both papers) by means of analysis of primary sources. No more than half of the source material may
consist of items that have been assigned.
Each student must discuss at least three sources, and the total
length
of these sources must amount to at least fifty pages.
Someone who chooses to write about three
books (such as three books about urban poverty) will far exceed the
fifty-page
minimum. Someone who draws heavily on
assigned material will probably have to deal with at least a dozen
sources. analyzes
an assortment of selections from one or more of the analogies is likely
to have
to deal with at least half a dozen sources.
Although it is perfectly acceptable to limit one’s research to
looking
at materials listed in my bibliography (to be distributed early in the
term),
students are also permitted (indeed encouraged) to poke around more
independently and to look for items that I have not listed. Bibliographies
for these papers, with brief descriptions of each item (a sentence
should
suffice in each case), are due on October 29 and November 3. First drafts of these papers, amounting to at
least eight pages (not counting bibliographies) are due on December 3
and
December 8, on which days students will be expected to speak about
their
findings for six to eight minutes.
Grades: First paper =
5 percent. Examination = 5 percent. Second paper = 15 percent.
Third paper = 15 percent. Final
paper = 50 percent. Lateness in
submission of papers or in submission of the bibliography that is due
on
October 29 or November 3 will be subject to penalties of two points. Attendance = 10 percent.
Students will receive 3 points for each of
the first twenty classes for which they show up on time and 5 points
for each
class after that (2 points and 4 points for classes for which they
arrive late). For
the purpose of calculating the grade for attendance, there is no such
thing as
an excused absence or lateness If
students arrive on time, they get full credit.
If they are late or absent, for whatever reason, they do not.
Schedule of Classes
September
1: Introduction to
the Course:
September 3:
Constitutional
Reform.
September 10: Industrialization,
Railroads, and Large Towns.
September
15: Debates about the Quality of
Life.
September 17: Economic
and Social Protest and Reform.
September
22: Examination.
September
24: Using the Library.
Meet in front part of Robeson.
September 29: Mid-Victorian
Values in Conflict: Views of an Entrepreneurial Society.
October 1:
Mid-Victorian
Values in Conflict: Views of Women.
October 6:
Mid-Victorian
Values in Conflict: Views of Science and
Religion.
October 8:
October 13: Liberals and
Tories.
October
15: Reports
on
October
20: The
Irish Question.
October
22: Imperialism
(1).
October 27:
Imperialism
(2).
October 29: Individual
Appointments.
November
3: Individual
Appointments.
November 5:
Social
Change and the Urban Scene.
November 10: Protests
and Reforms: Issues Pertaining to Class.
November 12: Protests
and Reforms: Issues Pertaining to Gender.
November
17: Mrs.
Warren’s Profession (a filmed performance of a play by George
Bernard
Shaw).
Novemer
19: Mrs.
Warren’s Profession.
November 24: Reports on
December 1:
Origins
of the
December
3: Student Reports.
December 8: Student Reports.
December 10: Individual
Appointments.